“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” -David -Brinkley 

Many times people will tell you that taking constructive criticism without being offended is a good personality trait. It means that you can work well with other people and listen to their ideas without thinking that it necessarily reflects poorly on you. It’s a skill that we learn over time, and it takes maturity and confidence to be able to take constructive criticism whether it has to do with a high school art project or a business proposal. If you can listen to other people’s comments and then use them to construct something even better, then you have benefited. Building something better with the use of constructive criticism or comments is not necessarily easy, but it’s much easier than building something better using negative criticism that others throw at you.

There will be times in your life when people criticize you unfairly. Maybe they are a having a bad day or maybe they have some sort of problem that isn’t related to you. Being able to take this unfair criticism and use it to build something better is an admirable skill. For example, you can take theopportunity to build a better relationship with the person who criticized you or you can take a different look at whatever was criticized and come up with some new ideas.

Even though the original criticism was negative, you can still use it to makesomething better or simply change the situation for the better. Being able to take constructive criticism is one thing, but being able to take negative criticism without getting angry or hurt shows remarkable self-confidence and level-headedness.

Some people might even criticize you personally—how you act, how you dress, or what you believe. Whether or not this criticism is negative, it can be hard to stay objective when someone starts to criticize who you are. Still, you can use the criticism as an opportunity for personal assessment instead of an excuse to get mad and upset, which might even be what the critical person wants.

So if someone says that something you think is wrong, you can take a moment to reevaluate why you feel the way you do. This isn’t to say that you should doubt yourself but just reaffirm to yourself why believe what you believe. This gives you a firmer understanding of yourself, and the more you understand the more you can explain your ideas to others. Granted, there will always be people who will never understand your point of view no matter how well you argue.

So, if you can become a little more thick-skinned and learn to take all kinds of criticism without being offended, you will have a great opportunity to grow. Will you take the bricks that people throw at you and build a firm foundation for your life?